Switzerland has moved out of neutral and into a forward gear. Its No. 2 man, 23-year-old Stanislas Wawrinka, who cracked the Top 10 earlier this month after reaching the final in the ATP Masters event in Rome, has ditched his previous management company in favor of sports marketing giant IMG.
“I am very happy to add IMG to my team,” Wawrinka said in a press release. “I am looking forward to a successful relationship with the company that will further develop opportunities for me around the world.”
The second-ranked Swiss, who has one title to his credit (Umag 2005), also made the final of Doha in January.
He will be represented by Nicolas Lamperin out of IMG’s Paris bureau.
The Lausanne native has long played in his more famous countryman’s shadow, but the small steps he has taken for years became larger leaps in 2008 as he joined Roger Federer, who is also managed partly by IMG, at the top of the world rankings, giving Switzerland two men in the Top 10.
Wawrinka holds endorsement deals with Head racquets and is currently wearing Adidas apparel, but appears to be looking for a new clothing sponsor as well as new sponsorship opportunities.
Other tennis players currently signed with IMG include Lindsay Davenport, Venus and Serena Williams, James Blake, Maria Sharapova, Rafael Nadal, and Nicole Vaidisova, among others.
IMG is a global sports, entertainment, and media conglomerate, with many areas of interest in tennis including sports and model marketing, tournament management (namely the Sony Ericsson Open), and publications such as TennisWeek.